Volker Kauder: Merkel Ally Says Islam Not Part of Germany

In America, if someone were passing out Qurans it would not be controversial, except in maybe Tennessee or the like, but in Germany it has caused a ridiculous firestorm of controversy. More so you have Chancellor Merkel’s ally, Volker Kauder saying while “Muslim do belong in Germany…Islam does not.” How do you have Islam without Muslims in a country?

A leading conservative politician said on Thursday that Islam did not belong in Germany, fuelling tension at a conference on integrating Muslims that also debated a controversial Salafist campaign to hand out copies of the Koran across the country.

“Islam is not part of our tradition and identity in Germany and so does not belong in Germany,” Volker Kauder, head of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in parliament, told the Passauer Neue Presse.

“But Muslims do belong in Germany. As state citizens, of course, they enjoy their full rights,” he added.

His remarks added to a highly charged nationwide debate about a campaign by an ultra-conservative Salafist Muslim group to hand out millions of free German translations of the Koran to non-Muslims.

The conference was one of a series hosted by the government to improve the integration of the four million Muslims living in Germany, about half of whom have German citizenship.

Kauder’s comments quickly drew fire. “Volker Kauder is the last crusader for the conservatives. He is putting a bomb in the Islam conference,” said senior opposition Social Democrat (SPD) lawmaker Thomas Oppermann.

Two years ago a painful row erupted over a bestseller by former central banker Thilo Sarrazin, who said Turkish and Arab immigrants sponged off the state and threatened German culture.

Soon after, Germany’s then-President Christian Wulff won wide praise from Muslims by saying that Islam was part of Germany.